On January 26), every year, it is customary for General Managers to hoist the national flag and deliver the Republic Day Speech addressing all railway employees of their zone. In the process the GMs also take stock of how their zones have performed.
This is a second part in the series where we look at the observations made by GMs of Western Railway, Eastern Railway, South Eastern Railway, North Central Railway, Northeast Frontier Railway and East Coast Railway.
Western Railway (WR )
Alok Kansal, GM, WR in his address was happy to inform that WR had surpassed its last year’s freight loading by the first week of January 2021 having hauled 64.35 million tonnes (MT).
In addition WR contributed to over a fifth of Indian Railways’ (IR) parcel loading at approximately 21 per cent in volume and value terms.
WR hauled 149 milk tanker rakes transporting over 11 crore litres of milk during this period. Besides, it operated 15 Kisan rakes to facilitate faster transportation of farm produce.
WR enhanced the average speed of goods trains over its system to 45 kmph.
Infrastructure projects
Under Mission Raftaar , there are plans to increase speed on Mumbai – Nagda section to 160 kmph by upgrading infrastructure.
Also, under Mission 2024, WR is focusing on improving the infrastructure of routes which carry 60 to 80 per cent of its total traffic.
WR lifted 15 speed restrictions this year, and increased sectional speed in 714 track kms.
WR did gauge conversion of the 18-km Dabhoi-Chandod section and constructed a new line between Chandod and Kevadiya (32 km) besides fully electrifying the 80-km Pratapnagar -Kevadiya section. With this, the Statue of Unity, the world’s tallest, is now connected by rail.
WR has completed works on 157 kms of new lines, gauge conversion and doubling in the current fiscal.
To save water, Automatic Coach Washing Plants have been commissioned at Vadodara and Mumbai Central .
Eastern Railway (ER)
Manoj Joshi GM ER in his speech, said that ER loaded 48.56 MT of freight and originating freight earnings of Rs 3347.73 crore upto December 31, 2020.
The average speed of goods trains over ER touched 57.66 kmph he said. This fiscal, 20.22 KM of doubling/third line/fourth line, 141 route km of electrification was completed up to December 2020. Business Development Units were created at the zonal and divisional levels and they generated revenue of about Rs 2 crore.
South Eastern Railway (SER)
Sanjay Kumar Mohanty, GM SER commended employees for rendering yeoman service during the Covid-19 pandemic transporting food grains, medicines and medical equipment uninterrupted running 2200 parcel trains.
SER developed Covid-19 hospitals at Ranchi, Adra, Kharagpur and Chakradharpur with 400 isolation beds, ran 774 Shramik Special train for migrant labour.
SER’s freight loading was 124.69 MT during the first nine months of FY21 performance despite the pandemic.
SER commissioned 72.3 KM third line in FY21 besides increasing the sectional speed between Andul and Tatanagar to 130 Kmph.
North Central Railway (NCR)
NCR made significant efforts to increase freight loading said V K Tripathi, GM NCR in his Republic Day message.
NCR loaded 11.82 MT in FY21 as against 11.20 MT in the year ago period. NCR’s business development units ran Kisan Express ferrying agri-produce while improving food grain loading by over 82 per cent year-on-year (yoy) to ensure uninterrupted supply.
Etawah and Tikamgarh were upgraded as Adarsh stations, platforms of Baad and Mathura stations were extended to accommodate 24-coach trains.
NCR handled over 53 per cent of IR’s total of 4617 Shramik special trains besides catering to over 5 lakh migrant and other stranded persons through 170 originating and 169 terminating Shramik specials.
NCR implemented QR code based contact less ticket checking at Prayagraj Jn due to Covid-19.
This system is being extended on a pan-India basis by CRIS, Tripathi said.
Removing Infrastructure bottlenecks
NCR upgraded sectional speeds between Ghaziabad-Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Jn. and Palwal-Lalitpur sections on trunk routes for up to 130 kmph; between Lalitpur and Bina to 120 kmph and between Manikpur – Link Jn section to 110 kmph.
Automatic signalling works on Mitawali-Wair, Sarsaul-Bindki Road have been commissioned.
Non Interlocking work at Bhaupur was completed to open the New Bhaupur-New Khurja Section of the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC).
Yards have been re-modelling works at four stations along with commissioning of Electronic Interlocking at 12.
Further upgradation of New Delhi- Howrah route between Ghaziabad-Pt. DeenDayal Upadhyay Jn. and New Delhi-Mumbai route between Palwal-Mathura sections to 160kmph is underway.
Three permanent speed restrictions have been relaxed and speeds on turnouts and loop lines have been enhanced over various sections of NCR to streamline operations.
The Coach mid-life rehabilitation workshop(CMLR) workshop of Jhansi has started periodic overhaul (POH) of LHB coaches of NCR for better availability of coaches .
Data loggers have been provided at 21 locations for improved monitoring and reliability of signals. Train Control Communication based on VoIP installed on Bhaupur-Prayagraj Chheoki section is the longest over Indian railways.
A new automatic coach washing plant at Agra recycles approximately 80 per cent of water used. NCR saved 48500 kilo litres of diesel with 47 more trains hauled by electric locos.
Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR)
In his Republic Day address, Anshul Gupta GM NFR observed that NFR had entered into the era of electric traction with running of trains with electric locomotives in Katihar – New Jalpaiguri section.
With CRS authorisation, electric locos are likely to operate on the Raninagar Jalpaiguri – New Coochbehar section shortly.
Doubling works from Digaru to Jagiroad including Tetelia bypass was commissioned during April – December, 2020. The section between Majgaon – Abhayapuri of New Bongaigaon – Goalpara – Kamakhya doubling project was also commissioned during this period. An additional goods line at Azara station yard was also commissioned.
NFR also built a 3.5 Km Haldibari – Chilahati cross-border rail link to boost railway connectivity between India and Bangladesh.
Asset maintenance
NFR did thorough track maintenance during the April -December period.Hence sectional speed could be increased for a total length of 258 Km in Lumding and Rangiya divisions. Speed on loop lines was also raised to 30 kmph on entire NFR except portions of Lumding – Badarpur – Silchar hill section. Ø
A new LHB Bogie Repair Shop has been commissioned at New Bongaigaon workshop, while an automatic axle box temperature detector has been provided at Kamakhya and New Bongaigaon.
Electronic Interlocking at 10 more stations, Universal Fail-Safe Block Interface at 27 block sections and Block Proving Axle Counter at 7 block sections has been provided.
NFR’s business development units have resulted in increased loading of petroleum products, timber and fire wood up to December, 2020 as compared to last year.
In addition,17 stations have been opened for handling of goods traffic; four stations for handling of NMG rakes and one goods terminal for handling container traffic so far.
One private freight terminal commissioned at New Jalpaiguri station besides adding new stream of traffic such as TMT bar at Azara and as food products at Azara and Changsari stations .
East Coast Railway (ECoR)
Vidya Bhushan GM ECoR in his message said that his zone achieved its highest loading of 144.28 MT and punctuality of 95.65 per cent.
BDUs brought new business such as Fly ash, Granite, limestone chips, export-bound slag etc. to rail.
ECoR commissioned the Haridaspur-Paradeep 82 Km line on July 31, 2020. An additional 112 Km double lines were also commissioned.
ECoR received 190 Shramik Special trains which brought in 3.42 lakh passengers,and dispatched 14 Shramik Specials carrying 17,824 passengers home.
ECoR handled 11129 tonnes of parcels containing medicines, medical equipment, vegetables, fruits, eggs, hatchings, fish and other consumer goods were moved by 10 pairs of parcel special trains were run everyday.
